Refuge (7 page)

   I count those who don’t give chase: 20. They stand guardedly within the defensive perimeter formed by the four mech trucks. Most have no weapons. Some of them are wearing black. Others, orange or yellow. A few, copper. The coppers seem to be acting as sentries.

   “Why did you do that?” I whisper. “Sierra’s orders were to wait.”

   Ovid and Peyton don’t say anything. Their eyes are on our surroundings. At any moment, I expect them to make a break for it. They don’t.

   Skye flashes a mischievous smile. “And you didn’t reach us in time, did you?”

   “No, I guess I didn’t,” I say, then I settle in for whatever’s coming while I try to figure out a few things that don’t make sense. Why weren’t the machines better prepared for an attack? How come so many members of the quad don’t have weapons? Why does the quad have golds and coppers?

   Skye collects metal discs the size of my palm from Ovid and Peyton. Attached to the bottom of the discs are rows of needles. The needles are short, about the length of the fingernail on my little finger. I can tell at once the discs are used to give some sort of injection. If the discs were used on the captives that would explain how quickly they went down and why they remain unconscious.

   Kneeling down, I reach out to touch one of the discs in Skye’s open pack. She grabs my wrist and shakes her head. “Don’t,” she says. “Maybe you should be readying to move out.”

   I put my hands on my waist. “Doesn’t look like we’re going anywhere soon.”

   I notice a slight curl in her lip. She turns around and points to where Ovid and Peyton are lifting a heavy metal cover from the ground. “We’re going now.”

   In the dark hole revealed by removing the cover is a ladder. Skye clambers down it and into the gloom. Ovid and Peyton lower one of the unconscious remnants into the hole. He’s dressed in black and his head and arms hang limply.

   It’s as I watch the second, dressed in orange, being lowered into the hole that I realize the significance of the colors I’m seeing: gold, copper, black, orange, yellow. Golds are soldiers; coppers are security; the others are workers.

   My first week with the machines my octet was two orange, four black, and two orange and we performed construction and industrial work. My second week we were two yellow, four black and two yellow and we worked with electrical circuitry and communications components. They didn’t go after a combat patrol; they went after some sort of work detail. And immediately, I want to know what’s inside the trucks.

   “You next,” Peyton says to me. “Careful, it’s slippery and wet down there.”

   It takes me a moment to return from my thoughts. Then I descend the ladder where I’m greeted by damp air and a foul stench. The deeper I descend the more pungent the odor that stings my nose grows.

   Skye is waiting for me. Her hand on my back is reassuring as I step off the final rung into a thin layer of muck and water. The tunnel I find myself in seems to stretch out endlessly. A short distance ahead, I can see other tunnels leading off of it, going north and south.

   Ovid and Peyton climb in together. Halfway down the ladder, they reach up and pull the metal cover into place atop the hole, plunging the tunnel into what seems like total darkness.

   Skye’s grip at my elbow keeps me still. “It’ll be okay,” she says. “Don’t try to move just yet. Let your eyes adjust.”

   Ovid and Peyton step around me. I can’t see what they’re doing, but the scrapes on the ground and the movements I hear tell me they’ve lifted the captives and perhaps put them over their shoulders.

   We start walking, not west like I expect, but east. Skye stays close, her eyes searching and her weapon ready. I ready my pistol as well.

   As my eyes adjust, I start to make out shapes around me. The tunnel we’re in is round and straight, big enough so that I can’t reach out and touch the walls on either side or above us, but not so considerable that I forget for a moment where I am.

   At times, the muck beneath my feet is so thick it feels like I’m stepping in glue. Other times, there’s nothing but a thin layer that sloshes beneath my boots.

   I can’t stop thinking about the mech trucks and what’s inside them. If we knew what they were carrying, we’d know what the machines were building. Something Sierra told me when we saw the blades comes to mind. She said she’d never seen machines this far north before. That she’d never seen any machine in this part of the city before.

   I hear footsteps other than ours in the dark. “Skye?” I say quietly, aiming my pistol.

   Skye’s hand returns to my arm. “It’s just Cali and the others.”

   A tall, long-legged figure emerging from the darkness confirms this. It’s Vesta, behind her I see two others. A girl with long black hair and a broad-shouldered boy with bright eyes: Cali and Luka. Vesta has the feet of one of the captives, Cali the torso. Luka has the other up over his shoulder.

   Skye greets them with a squeal of delight. Then we turn south into the cross-tunnel I saw earlier. Here, the darkness is pierced occasionally by shafts of light from overhead which help us avoid dross and detritus we might otherwise trip over.

   “I keep expecting to see Luke and the others at any moment,” I say quietly to Skye as we walk.

   She does an about face, walking backward for a few steps. I know she’s studying the way we’ve come, making sure we’re not being followed. “Getting off the roof won’t be easy. They’ll likely need to stay put until nightfall.”

The story continues with:

After the Machines

Episode Six: Deception

The Secret of Us

Robert Stanek is author of the #1 bestselling ELVES OF THE REACHES, an epic fantasy series, currently comprising eight books, which has been translated into twelve languages; the #1 bestselling MAGIC LANDS, a young adult series comprising two books and counting, which has been translated into seven languages; and the #1 bestselling POCKET CONSULTANTS, a computer technology series comprising 35 books and counting, which have been translated into 21 languages.

Robert is also author of the #1 bestselling BUGVILLE CRITTERS, a children’s series comprising 28 books and counting; #1 bestselling BUGVILLE LEARNING, an educational series comprising 31 books and counting; the #1 bestselling BUGVILLE JR, a children’s series comprising 26 books and counting; and the #1 bestselling THE PIECES OF THE PUZZLE, a mystery thriller novel for adults.

In his fiction writing, Robert transports readers to many imagined worlds. Robert’s early fiction work has many influences, including JRR Tolkien, C S Lewis, Anne McCaffrey, H G Wells, and Ray Bradbury.

In his long, distinguished writing career, Robert’s books have been distributed and/or published by Simon & Schuster, Random House, Macmillan, Pearson, Microsoft, O’Reilly, and others. In 2007, Robert founded Go Indie, an organization dedicated to supporting independent publishers, authors, and booksellers, and over the past few years Go Indie has helped hundreds of independents.

Dubbed ‘A Face Behind the Future’ in the 1990’s by
The Olympian
, Robert’s been helping to shape the future of the written word for over two decades. Robert’s 150th book was published in 2013.

Select Acclaim for Robert Stanek…

“Robert Stanek is one of our most featured and respected Kids & Young Adults, K-12 Educators and Kids authors.”

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“Stanek [has] a penchant for clear and simple prose. He also prefers swift, action-oriented scenes. Solidly built. Stanek moves among his main characters with ease, always switching at a climactic moment to maintain suspense. The accessible, brisk language keeps things moving.”

--Foreword Magazine

“Sure to attract fans of graphic novels and classic Tolkien alike. Stanek will likely draw a cult following. This guarantees fans, and those fans will be ready to wield their swords against the Dark Lord in Stanek’s next installment.”

-- VOYA, the leading magazine for YA librarians

“Word of mouth turned it into a bestseller. Very satisfying.”

-- The Fantasy Guide

Select Achievements for Robert Stanek and his Ruin Mist books…

#1 Fiction, Audible (12 weeks, 2005)

Top 50 Sci-fi/Fantasy, Amazon (26 weeks, 2002)

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Top 10 Recommended Author -- SciFi Bookcase (2004 - 2012)

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Robert Stanek and his books have also been featured in…

The Olympian, The Journal of Electronic Defense, The Publisher’s Weekly Cover Story, The Parenting Magazine, VOYA, BookWire, Children’s Writer, Children’s Bookshelf, Library Journal, School Library Journal, The News Tribune, and more.

Also by Robert Stanek

Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches #1, 2, 3, 4:

Winds of Change

Seeds of Dissent

Pawn of Dragons

Tower of Destiny

In the Service of Dragons #1, 2, 3, 4:

A Clash of Heroes

A Dance of Swords

A Storm of Shields

A Reign of Dragons

Guardians of the Dragon Realms #1, 2:

The Dragon, the Wizard & the Great Door

A Legacy of Dragons

Dragons of the Hundred Worlds #1, 2:

Breath of Fire

Living Fire

A Daughter of Kings #1, 2, 3, 4:

Betrayal

Deliverance

Rebirth

Discord

The Pieces of the Puzzle #1, 2:

The Pieces of the Puzzle

The Cards in the Deck

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